EXCLUSIVE: Three decades after Remington Steele launched the career of Pierce Brosnan, the romantic comedy/drama procedural is getting a next-generation reboot, this time as a half-hour comedy. NBC, which aired the original hourlong series for five seasons between 1982-1987, has nabbed the sequel project from 20th Century Fox TV, which owns rights to the show via News Corp’s acquisition of Remington Steele producer MTM. Titled Remington Steele, the reboot follows Olivia Holt, the daughter of Remington Steele and Laura Holt, as she reopens the once-world-famous Remington Steele Detective Agency — only to fall into the same hilarious, action-packed, romantic entanglements of her parents. Jay Scherick and David Ronn are writing the script and Ruben Fleischer is set to direct the project, which has a script commitment plus penalty. The three are executive producing, with Fleischer’s executive Heather Petrigala as producer.

In the original series, Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist), a licensed private detective, recruits a con man (Brosnan) to pose as fictitious male superior Remington Steele at her detective agency. (Watch the opening sequence to Henry Mancini’s theme music below.) While sparks between the two were flying from the first episode, Holt and Steele did not get together until the series finale. The dramedy, which co-starred Doris Roberts, helped establish shows with strong, independent women at the center and is credited as being a precursor to the similarly themed Moonlighting. Gangster Squad director Fleischer, who is under an overall deal at 20th TV, just landed a cast-contingent pilot order at ABC for comedy Strange Calls, co-produced by Kapital Entertainment. He is with UTA and attorney Warren Dern. Scherick and Ronn, who started off in television working on Spin City, have been focused on features for the past decade, recently co-writing the two Smurfs movies and the upcoming Popeye. They are with UTA and attorney Robert Offer.